Middle Ground
by Courage Sun
Summary: Their kiss was much like their friendship; a constant battle between an unstoppable force and an immovable object. And yet regardless of the battlefield, their opposing viewpoints and traits rounded the other out. Taichi loved widely and Yamato loved deeply, and this was where they found their middle ground.


Hello there fandom fam!

UGH I am SUPER nervous and I don't know why - Wait that's a lie, it's because I disappeared for almost a decade and I haven't posted anything since. Yea, I suck. Sorry (heart).

But I'm here today with this little beauty that stemmed from me working out some relationshipy stuff in my Nanowrimo project. It's mostly my thought process thrown together with a little plot, but I thought it was fun and I would love to hear your interpretations.

So I hope you enjoy! I'll just be over here having a mild anxiety attack...

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"So all of the rumors… all of the talk about how you're a fucking god…. none of it's real?"

Taichi rolled his eyes skyward, "Ohmygod."

"So just for clarification purposes -"

"Yamato," Taichi warned.

" - You can't unhook a bra just by looking at it?"

Taichi groaned into his hands.

"Or you can't actually fry an egg on your abs?"

"I hate you!" Taichi whined.

Yamato's lip quirked, eyes glittering with mischief, "And there's not literal sunshine pouring out of your ass? Because that one comes from a particularly reliable - FUCK!"  
Yamato all but screamed as his center of gravity was suddenly thrust forward…

Directly into the pool.

When Yamato re-emerged from the waters, gasping and sputtering like a drowned cat, it was to the devilish grin of his rival. And suddenly Yamato understood where some of those rumors came from.

But he was still pissed.

"FUCK YOU YAGAMI!"

Taichi laughed in response, "Get in line Yama, apparently I'm a hot commodity."

"I am going to murder you."

Taichi scrambled away from the edge of the pool but sorely misjudged how fast an angry Yamato Ishida could move, because a vice-like grip cinched around his elbow before he could escape the proverbial danger zone. Taichi cursed before he was completely submerged.

"I am going to throttle you, you asshole! Do you know how much heat I'm going to get from my stage manager?!" Yamato growled as he pulled Taichi into a choke hold.

Taichi laughed gregariously despite Yamato's hold on him, "A lifetime of bad hair days to you and your first born!"

Yamato gasped overdramatically, "You're a monster."

Taichi giggled, "I'm not the monster here you are! You and the rest of those fairy tale freaks!"

"...You are such a weirdo."

Taichi glanced over his shoulder to make eye contact with Yamato, "But you miiiiiiissed me."

"Ugh," Yamato scoffed, "like I'd miss a disease."

"You know, words can hurt." Suddenly Taichi's grin sharpened.

"What are you-"

Yamato sucked in air just in time for the spastic football player to push back against him and submerge them both. Yamato was forced to relinquish his hold in order to break the surface of the pool. He sighed heavily as he pushed blonde strands out of his eyes, "I remember now why we stopped talking."

Taichi grinned, shaking the water from his hair and splashing the fussier of the two. "Yea, you got too cool."

Yamato lifted an eyebrow, "I'm not the one the whole school has slept with."

"I'm not either!"

Yamato paused wringing the water from his leather jacket. The playful note was gone from Taichi's voice, replacing it with an edge of anger and…. something else. Taichi's body language changed too; arms crossed over his chest defensively, glaring defiantly at the surface of the pool…

Fuck.

"Tai, I didn't mean -"

"I know!" Taichi threw his fist into the water.

Yamato waited patiently while an array of emotions passed across Taichi's face. Taichi was never the most acute when it came to feelings, and if there was one thing that Yamato knew about his friend it was that his own emotions were the most confusing to him. It was a source of constant struggle for them as kids; Yamato being naturally more inclined to understand and interpret emotions because he himself had experienced a number of difficult situations at a young age. Taichi, on the other hand, was good with surface level emotions: happy, sad, angry. Thus, if something more complex occurred Taichi lashed out because anger was easier for him to understand than sifting through a tangled web of feelings.

As Taichi matured, he recognized that he would have to delve into those nasty little emotions. But it wasn't easy, and anger was still a default.

Finally, Taichi heaved a great sigh, "I know. Sorry…. It's just…." He chewed on his lower lip, "People say stuff like that to make themselves seem… better, I guess." He ran a hand through his hair, "But it's like they don't even think that it might… upset me or whatever." He laughed then, a humorless, empty laugh, "I'm the captain of the football team right? So it must be happening. It's the most common stereotype in the book. So why not? It's not like it hurts my reputation or anything…. "

Yamato's eyes widened fractionally. Oh. But it did.

What if Taichi actually was interested in someone. Someone who had heard all of these god awful rumors and drew their own conclusions about his character. They would assume that if Taichi showed any interest it was just for sex.

And that…. that wasn't Taichi at all….

Taichi was the type of person who had no fear when it came to people. He was friends with everyone at the school and had more social connections than Yamato would have in his lifetime.

But as comfortable as Taichi was with loving widely, it was deeply that unnerved him. There was a reason Taichi clung to his closest friends - the people who he let in - and it was because he didn't let many people get close to him.

Sure he could claim to have hundreds of friends, but how many of them knew anything beyond his love for football or his favorite color? How many people could sincerely see behind the mask of confidence when something was wrong?

This was a major difference between Taichi and Yamato. Yamato never loved widely; his icy exterior tended to ward off anyone who Yamato didn't deem worthy of his time. He put up no false pretenses. Either Yamato wanted to get to know you or he wouldn't talk to you. And Yamato didn't waste his time on surface get-to-know-you questions; if you met his high standards then you had a friend for life, and there was no wading through the shallows of this relationship.

Taichi was the opposite. He would talk to a person standing next to him in line at the grocery store for christ sake. But the moment conversations took a more serious turn, Taichi tended to clam up, unsure of how close he should let the person in.

And sex, to Taichi, was the ultimate way of letting someone close to him. And for a bunch of high school assholes to treat Taichi like some dumb, heartless jock…

"Yamato?"

Yamato sighed, noting the worry in his friend's eyes. "Sorry. I was just thinking…"

"Don't hurt yourself," Taichi weakly joked.

Yamato's lip quirked. "Taichi… have you ever been kissed?"

"..."

Yamato turned to his friend and watched him struggle to meet his eyes. "Tai?"

"Ugh! You're going to laugh at me."

"No, I won't."

Taichi met Yamato's steady gaze, looking for any hint of malice. Seeing none he responded, "No Yamato, I haven't."

"So these fuckers are running around using you to improve their status, hindering you from any chance at a real relationship."

"Umm…"

Yamato snarled as he began marching towards the pool stairs.

"Wait! Fuck! Yama stop!" Taichi grasped Yamato's elbow and spun him so they were face to face. "It's not a big deal. I really don't care."

"Yes, you do. It's written all over your face."

"I don't need you defending my virtue!"

"Obviously someone needs to!"

"Why the fuck do you even care!"

"You're my friend!"

"We haven't spoken this much in years!"

"Fine! It's because I know how it feels, alright?!"

Taichi's response died on his lips. "What?"

Yamato growled, "Yea Tai, believe it or not being the lead singer of a popular band isn't all it's cracked up to be. You get used by people a lot."

Taichi's eyes widened as it clicked. "Someone used you like that?"

Instead of answering Yamato glared at the house, "I know how it feels, and I'm not going to let someone treat you the same way when you haven't even kissed someone."

Taichi glared at Yamato for a beat longer before grasping him by the lapels of his soaked leather jacket and pulling him into a slippery kiss. It only lasted a few seconds before Taichi broke the touch of mouths and shouted,"There! Now I have so will you chill out!"

Yamato, for his part, managed to keep his mouth from hanging open in shock after his stupid, impulsive, idiot of a best friend managed to throw caution to the wind, ignore the consequences, and throw Yamato's entire world out of balance. But, never one to turn down a challenge initiated by his rival, Yamato's first instinct was to roll with it.

"You call that a kiss?" Yamato didn't give Taichi time to respond, instead, he gripped him by the back of the neck and pulled him into a more heated lip lock.

Taichi gasped against Yamato as the blonde slowly teased his mouth open with his teeth, sucking and nibbling on his lower lip. He was so overwhelmed by his friend's tongue sliding into his mouth that he didn't notice Yamato had pressed him up against the side of the pool until he felt the edge digging into his back,

"Nnh," Taichi moaned into Yamato's mouth, encouraging him to wrap an arm around his waist and to tangle the other in his hair. It was surreal how well they knew each other even in this new context - how Taichi, all fire and energy, knew just how to entice Yamato and inspire him to let loose those tightly constrained inhibitions. How Yamato, frost and solidity, knew how to ground Taichi into him and make him feel connected to someone who would always be watching his back.

Their kiss was much like their friendship; a constant battle between an unstoppable force and an immovable object, and yet despite the never-ending rivalry there was a deep sense of care and admiration that boiled beneath their skins. Because regardless of the battlefield, their opposing viewpoints and traits rounded the other out. Taichi loved widely and Yamato loved deeply, and here they were at a middle ground that allowed both of them to be themselves.

They could've been kissing for hours, two sides of a coin that were finally melded together when Taichi slowly pulled away to catch his breath.

The two stood panting against each other, breath mingling as their eyes silently challenged the other to make the next move.

Ever the bold one, though, Taichi smirked, "So are the rumors true?"

Yamato smirked as he placed his hands on the edge of the pool, effectively boxing Taichi in, "Which ones?"

"About my amazing kissing skills, obviously!"

"I don't remember any rumors about that," Yamato smirked as he allowed his eyes to rake over Taichi: his cheeks were flushed, lips swollen, and his wet t-shirt was sticking to him like a second skin, showing off every crevice and curve. He was a fucking wet dream created in gay scientist's laboratory. Of course there wouldn't be rumors that focused on an action found in most Disney movies.

"I guess we'll have to make up our own then huh?"

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So that's a thing that happened.

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Seriously, I need more digimon friends...


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